Addis Ababa Fistula Hospital part 3
Garden of the Addis Ababa Fistula Hospital, Ethiopia
I have to admit that Addis Ababa is not the most beautiful city I’ve ever visited. In fact, many parts are quite dirty with much rubbish lying around in streets and on construction sites, poorly maintained roads, less than beautiful buildings and plenty of pollution in the air and waterways. I sensed during my visit there last December that attempts are being made to clean up the environment and general facilities but the sheer mass of people they are dealing with makes this a mammoth task.
It was therefore a very pleasant surprise to visit some private homes to see what could be achieved. Even more delightful was our visit to the Addis Ababa Fistula Hospital (click here to read what I wrote last week about our visit). The buildings in this wonderful hospital are extremely well maintained, clean and inviting to the traumatised patients. The grounds and gardens are a haven providing a serene environment for the women recovering from obstetric fistula, one of the most distressing medical conditions I have ever read about.
Here is my challenge: you can help these women to recover by donating to the work. Click here for more details.
Garden of the Addis Ababa Fistula Hospital, Ethiopia
Garden of the Addis Ababa Fistula Hospital, Ethiopia
Addis Ababa Fistula Hospital part 2
Garden of the Addis Ababa Fistula Hospital, Ethiopia
Last week I wrote about our visit to the Addis Ababa Fistula Hospital in Ethiopia.
Today I present a few more photos taken around the gardens and buildings of this wonderful hospital, a place changing the lives of so many local women in an amazing way. To read more, click here.
Addis Ababa Fistula Hospital, Ethiopia
Garden of the Addis Ababa Fistula Hospital, Ethiopia
Addis Ababa Fistula Hospital
Garden of the Addis Ababa Fistula Hospital, Ethiopia
One of the places my wife and I wanted to visit while in Ethiopia last December was the Addis Ababa Fistula Hospital, established many years ago by an Australian doctor, Catherine Hamlin and her husband. We had heard about this wonderful hospital some years ago and had financially supported its work.
Last year, just when we were planning our trip to Ethiopia, an hour long documentary on the work was shown on Australian television, further fostering a growing passion to support this hospital. In December we planned to visit our daughter who was teaching at Bingham Academy, an international school about 20 minutes by taxi from the hospital.
We asked her if she could contact the hospital to enquire if we could visit. She went one better and arranged an appointment for us. It so happened that the son of the CEO of the hospital was a student in her class. We later met the CEO and his family at a church service and found them to be lovely people.
Over the coming days I plan to show more photos of the garden of this wonderful hospital. I was not permitted to take any photos of the patients which is completely understandable. The grounds, however, were amazing; so peaceful and therapeutic for the patients.
I challenge my readers to find out more about the work of this hospital in treating women suffering from obstetric fistula. In fact, I challenge you to financially support this amazing work. Click here to go to their website for more information.
Garden of the Addis Ababa Fistula Hospital, Ethiopia
Garden of the Addis Ababa Fistula Hospital, Ethiopia
Street scenes in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
Street vendor, Addis Ababa
By way of contrast with the photos I posted yesterday, today I have shown some scenes of the shops and buildings of some of the ordinary people living in the bustling city of Addis Ababa. There are thousands of street vendors like the one shown above, selling everything from fruit and vegetables to clothing to shoes to whatever you want.
Shops in suburban Addis Ababa
Many of the shops are tiny – perhaps only a few square metres in the front room of a house. Bakeries, butcher shops, furniture shops, car repair garages, cafes, clothing shops, sheep and goats for sale, shoe shops – the list could go on and on. In any one street you can find thousands of different items for sale. It’s all very colourful and diverse with pedestrians moving along the street – or on the road – all the time.
One interesting thing we observed in moving through the streets and looking into shops; they are generally very clean. The street may be rough with potholes, drains, animal excrement and the like, but most shopkeepers take a pride in their shops and the wares they are selling. Even in the poorest areas they attempt to give good service and a good product.
Shops in suburban Addis Ababa
Shops in suburban Addis Ababa
Shops in suburban Addis Ababa
Scenes around Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
Buildings in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
One of the interesting things I found about visiting Ethiopia last December was the contrasts in the capital city, Addis Ababa. Today I have posted photos of several modern and quite lovely buildings, structures which would not be out of place in Australian cities. We went to several supermarkets and shopping centres and they looked very similar to what we’d find here in Adelaide or other Australian cities. In fact, the supermarkets were generally much cleaner and well kept than their Australian counterparts. Only the products on sale differed though we recognised many of the same brands we can get here at home. The labelling also differed, though many were in English as well as the locally spoken Amharic.
In most cases, however, we only had to go a short distance to see the other side of Ethiopia where the vast majority of people live in poor conditions and struggle for survival. More about that in coming days.
Buildings in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
Buildings in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia